On the night of April 17, in Ha Long City, Quang Ninh Province, tension hung thick. Officers from the Drug Crime Investigation Division were tightening their net around a major trafficking ring led by Nguyen Huu Dang. When Dang was caught with 16 heroin bricks, his accomplices refused to surrender. A chase was carried out near the Dai Yen toll station.

In the silent night, the sharp crack of AK gunfire rang out. The drug traffickers not only resisted fiercely but also fired to free their ally. Amid the hail of bullets, Major Nguyen Dang Khai fell at the age of 29.

Khai’s sacrifice left grief for his family and comrades, a stark testament to the unrelenting brutality of the war on drug crime.

Khai is among the police officers who have lost their lives in this fiery struggle. The fight against drug crime has claimed many of Vietnam’s finest, cut down in their prime, full of dreams and dedication.

In 2020, in Nghe An, Captain Sam Quoc Nghia, a 29-year-old Thai ethnic minority anti-drug police officer from Que Phong District Police, was killed in action. He was the only son of his family.

Nghia was attacked with a knife while confronting criminals. Though gravely wounded, he signaled his team before drawing his last breath. The image of his young wife, a kindergarten teacher, holding their 3-year-old daughter while gazing at his coffin remains a haunting memory.

In 2023, also in Nghe An, Captain Tran Trung Hieu, 30, an officer of Xuan Hong Commune Police, succumbed after days battling injuries from a drug suspect who stabbed his neck with scissors. Family, comrades, and locals donated blood to save him, but to no avail.

The southern front is also violent. On March 3, 2025, Corporal Nguyen Ngoc Minh Nhat, a mobile police officer in Ba Ria – Vung Tau, fell after a suspect’s knife attack when he tried to inspect the subject to find drugs. He was just 24.

These sudden losses in their 20s and 30s are the price of peace.

Long Luong in Son La and Kia - PaCo cave in Hoa Binh were once names that struck fear in the northwest for years. Located in rugged terrain near the “Golden Triangle,” these areas were strongholds for drug lords, turning peaceful villages into fortified “bunkers.”

In 2018, in Ta De Village in Long Luong commune, the police launched a large-scale operation into the den of drug lords Nguyen Thanh Tuan and Nguyen Van Thuan. They built fortified houses with hidden bunkers, multi-layered walls, installed dense surveillance cameras, and stockpiled military weapons in large quantities (over 50 guns, dozens of grenades, nearly 8,000 bullets), gas tanks, and gasoline, ready to fight to the death.

The gun battle lasted many days and the police had to use armored vehicles to fully dismantle the criminal stronghold.

In 2014, in Van Ho, Son La, Captain Luong Phat Chiem fell in a fierce shootout with a group transporting nearly 200 heroin bricks. Over 100 officers surrounded the 30 criminals, armed with AKs and carbines, who fought back viciously when spotted. Chiem left behind a young wife and a son not yet 2 years old.

In Mai Chau, Hoa Binh, in February 2010, a raid to eliminate drug lord Vang A Khua claimed three officers. Colonel Ha Thai Yem, Mai Chau District Police Deputy Chief, who led the operation, and his comrades, Lieutenant Sung A Tru and Major Bui Quoc Dai, bravely closed in on the target and were met with fierce gunfire.

The cost of peace

In 2024, the Drug Crime Investigation Police dismantled nearly 30,000 drug trafficking cases, arrested over 51,000 suspects, and seized tons of drugs and hundreds of guns.

According to the Drug Crime Investigation Department (Ministry of Public Security), since 1997, 29 officers, soldiers, and civilians have died in the fight against the “white death,” including 23 police officers. Over 700 others have been injured or exposed to HIV during duty.

Yet, the war on drug crime isn’t measured only by cases solved or drugs seized. It’s also measured in blood and tears. But from these losses sprout seeds of courage and generational resolve.

Colonel Ha Thai Yem, Mai Chau District Police Deputy Chief, died in a battle, and his son, Major Ha Tien Dung, also a Mai Chau police officer, has suppressed his grief to carry on his father’s mission.

In the fight against drug crime, no sacrifice is forgotten. The people honor them.

Dinh Hieu - Y Nhuy